1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pump for dispensing a liquid from a terminal orifice. More particularly, the invention relates to a pump and a mixer for mixing a liquid concentrate and a liquid diluent for discharge from a terminal orifice.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
The prior art has known many types of pumping systems for pumping and dispensing a single or a plurality of liquids from a terminal orifice. Many of these devices relate to a system for mixing a liquid concentrate with a liquid concentrate in accordance with a pre-determined relationship and then dispensing the mixture from a terminal orifice. One important application for such a mixing and dispensing device is in the dispensing of liquid food products such as fruit juices, vegetable juices and the like. In many cases, fruit and vegetable juices such as orange juice, pineapple juice, grapefruit juice or tomato juice is stored in a frozen concentrate form for use at a later time. The frozen concentrate is then thawed and mixed with a water diluent to produce an end product equivalent to the original fruit or vegetable juice. In order to produce an end product which is equivalent in flavor and in consistency to the original fruit or vegetable juice, the concentrate and the water diluent must be accurately mixed in a predetermined volumetric relationship. Accordingly, the devices for mixing a liquid concentrate with a liquid concentrate must be accurate and reliable to produce an end product equivalent to the original fruit or vegetable juice.
When dealing with food products, other design problems are encountered when designing a pumping and a mixing device for a food dispensing device. First, the pumping and a mixing device must be readily accessible for cleaning the internal portions of the pump after each use. Second, the pump must be designed to pump accurate volumes of concentrate independent of the viscosity of the concentrate. It has been found that orange juice concentrate has different viscosities depending upon the temperature of the orange juice concentrate, the time of harvest of the crop as well as the specific type of orange juice harvested during the relatively long citrus harvesting season. As a consequence of these requirements peristaltic pumps were a popular choice in the prior art for pumping a liquid food concentrate. Peristaltic pumps not only performed well but were simple and low cost. However, the peristaltic pumps had the distinct disadvantage of a relatively large physical size as well as a limited variation in flow rate. Consequently, the flow rate of the liquid diluent had to be controlled in order to obtain different concentrate-diluent ratios for various fruit and vegetable juices. Further disadvantages of the peristaltic pump include a pulsating liquid flow, a noisy operation and a limited life of a deformable tubing in the peristaltic pump.
U.S Pat. No. 4,194,650 disclosed a novel dispensing device wherein the flow rate of a liquid diluent was kept at a constant rate and the flow rate of a liquid concentrate was varied by varying the speed of a pumping motor to obtain a desired volumetric ratio of liquid concentrate to liquid diluent. This dispensing device performed very satisfactorily and advanced the art of dispensing and mixing of a liquid concentrate with a liquid diluent.
In our prior U.S. patent application Ser. No. 567,186 filed Aug. 14, 1990, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,047, we disclosed an improved pump and mixing device for pumping a liquid concentrate from a container and for mixing the concentrate with a diluent. The improved pump and mixing device included a one-way valve for allowing the flow of the liquid in one direction only. The one-way valve of the improved pump and mixing device provided a reliable, accurate and cost effective device for operation with a pump and a mixing device.
Although our one-way valve provided a reliable, accurate and cost effective device for operation with a pump and a mixing device, the one-way valve also is useful for use independent of the pump and/or a mixing device. For example, the one way valve is useful for preventing backflow of the diluent into the water line to prevent the contamination of a diluent.
Therefore, it is a primary object of this invention to provide an improved one-way valve for use with the pump and mixing device and for use in fluid lines in general.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved one-way valve that is accurate and reliable irrespective of the viscosity of the liquid.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved one-way valve that is a reliable and inexpensive unit enabling the one way valve to be discarded after use.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved one-way valve which cooperates with an intake aperture for enabling the flow of the liquid in only one direction through the fluid line.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved one-way valve which reliably and inexpensively prevents backflow of liquids in a fluid line.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved one-way valve which is an integrally molded one-piece unit.
Another object of this invention to provide an improved one-way valve which is constructed of a polymeric material such as a resilient thermoplastic polymer for improved flexibility and sanitary operation.
Another object of this invention to provide an improved one-way valve which converts a turbulent flow of a liquid from an aperture into a substantially laminar flow.
Another object of this invention to provide an improved one-way valve which is flexible for facilitating insertion and removal of the one-way valve from a chamber.
Another object of this invention to provide an improved one-way valve which is flexible for resiliently engaging the chamber to secure the one-way valve into a chamber.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the present invention. These objects should be construed as being merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the invention. Accordingly other objects in a full understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention, the detailed description describing the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.